Solana Activates First Slot-Time Reduction, Cuts Target Time to 350ms
Solana has made its first slot-time reduction since its inception by activating a feature that cuts the target slot time from 400 milliseconds to 350 milliseconds. This change is part of the network's plan to transition towards a 200-millisecond endpoint, with each additional 50-millisecond reduction activated through a separate feature gate in later epochs.
Jacob Creech, vice president of technology at the Solana Foundation, described the move as Solana's first slot-time reduction and stated that 300 milliseconds is the next target. The upgrade does not change the number of ticks per slot, the four-slot leader span or the number of slots in an epoch.
The shorter slots will compress the time for a leader to complete blocks, for the next leader to receive transactions through Gulf Stream, and for other validators to replay and vote on blocks. The Solana Foundation says that the network will not advance to the next reduction if block skip rates are too high.